Best karaoke machines 2022: From family favourites to professional setups

Best: Overall

Rating: 9.5/10

Now, we know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but the moment we all laid eyes on this cool-looking karaoke machine we were won over. With a built-in rotating disco light at the top and an amazing colour-change LED front panel that dances in time to the music, it does a very good job of transforming your living room into party central in a flash (quite literally).

Set-up is super-quick – you just need to connect your phone or tablet via Bluetooth, then load up your tunes using YouTube (which is a goldmine for finding amazing karaoke versions of your favourite songs) . If you prefer linking to your laptop you can hook it up via audio inputs on the back of the unit.

What our younger testers both loved was the wireless microphone (you can choose a set of two for an additional £30), which gave them the freedom to dance around the room while performing their favourites. Even George Ezra would have been impressed with our six-year-old’s enthusiastic rendition of Shotgun, that’s for sure.

With a rechargeable battery and a leather carry handle to move from room to room, it’s definitely a karaoke machine that’s made to last. Offering endless music choices via the Bluetooth connection, simple set-up and excellent sound quality that almost made us sound like semi-decent singers, we think this is a great buy to suit the whole family.

Best: For song choice

Rating: 9/10

Karaoke fans may already be familiar with Lucky Voice’s amazing private room karaoke bars throughout London and Brighton, but now you can get the experience in the comfort of your own home with this rather swanky Karaoke Kit.

We were instantly won over by the rose gold microphone, which felt pleasingly weighty and gave off some serious “professional singer” vibes – although you’ll have to pay extra for an additional microphone, starting at £24.99. But, digging further into the box, we were a bit worried about the number of different wires inside. Thankfully the instructions were very clear, and it took just minutes to set the whole kit up.

To use the kit at home you’ll need a computer (PC, Mac or laptop are all fine) or iPad and some amplified speakers (either through your TV or Hi-Fi, an iPod speaker dock or external computer speakers). We found it really straightforward to use with our Mac and TV speakers and set everything up before the kids got restless.

To access all of the songs you need to sign up as a member (costing £6.99 a month) but you’ll receive a code for a free month’s trial with your kit. The song catalogue is huge, and we loved how you can search through categories, such as “kids” or “duets”, to find the type of song you’re after. There’s everything here from the “belt-it-out” Shallow (sadly a star was not born with our rendition, but there you go) to the crowd-pleasing Jolene, but for our little testers it was the inclusion of the Peppa Pig classic The Bing Bong Song which set off mass hysteria. We can confidently say there’s something for everyone here.

Best: For children

Rating: 8.5/10

With its cute light-up face and diminutive size, it’s no surprise this was the karaoke machine that our child testers all flocked to instantly. It’s jam-packed with features which our six year old loved working through on their own, including games (the one where you have to make Tobi 2 explode with laughter by making funny noises was, naturally, a big hit) and sound effects (nothing like having a raucous round of applause at the press of a button to boost your confidence!).

There are eight pre-loaded songs to sing along to, or you can stream your own music using the Bluetooth connection, which is quick to do. As well as all of this, there’s pitch correction (note: this doesn’t work miracles when an over-excited three year old is screeching down the microphone), fun voice effects, as well as an option to record and playback your singing.

It does require four double-A batteries to work (not included) and it was a shame there was only one microphone included, but our little testers loved how the Tobi 2 came to life with smiley faces and cool flashing lights as they sang. We think it’s a great choice for children as it’s easy to operate and has plenty to keep them occupied, besides singing.

Best: With a stand

Rating: 9/10

Super-quick and easy to set up, we had a queue of littles testers lining up to give this fun VTech number a try. Essentially a karaoke machine and DJ mixer in one, it manages to pack a huge amount of features into a small package – so much so, we’re still discovering more weeks into testing.

The stand was a huge selling point for our testers, who loved taking turns to unleash their inner popstar. We loved how the stand is height adjustable simply by removing sections, which meant we could fit it to the perfect height for our six-year-old tester as well as our three-year-old, no problem. It also, thankfully, has a small footprint, so can fit neatly into the corner of the room when you’re not using it. It’s battery-powered, however the four batteries are included, so you can get started straight away.

Another thing our testers loved was the impressive colour changing disco lights which really lit up the room as they flashed in time with the music. The machine comes with a selection of pre-loaded songs – these are all VTech originals, but our testers spent so much time playing with it that they now know all the words (as do we!). It doesn’t have a Bluetooth connection, but if you want to sing along to your own songs you can plug in a battery powered music player using the audio cable supplied.

The unit has different songs for your kids to DJ along to, adding their own scratch sound effects or different beats, and there’s a record function to listen to their own creations too. While our older tester liked to experiment with this, it was the voice effects, where you can change your voice from a squeaky mouse to a robot at the touch of a button, that was the most-used function by far.

Best: For the whole family

Rating: 9/10

Easy to use straight out of the box, this great quality unit has plenty of options for singing fun for every member of the family. It comes with 2 CDs, including kid-friendly tunes like Let It Go and Baby Shark, as well as songs by Ariana Grande and Little Mix for tweens and teens, right up to the old classics like Son of a Preacher Man and Sweet Caroline.

Once you’ve exhausted these, you can hook up to your TV, smart phone or tablet via Bluetooth or USB. We linked up to our iPad and made use of the handy tablet holder at the top of the machine to prop it up while we sang along to karaoke versions of our favourite songs via YouTube. Our little testers loved being able to choose their own songs this way, even if they didn’t actually use the lyrics to sing along. There are lots of karaoke apps or websites, like Sunfly, you can use too, but these do tend to have an additional cost.

As well as all of this, the Daewoo comes with two wired microphones, colour changing LED lights (which our young testers really loved) and a two-year warranty. We all agreed it was so much fun and so easy to use – a great addition to our weekly family kitchen discos.

Best: For a professional experience

Rating: 9.5/10

Not all karaoke machines are made equal, and this epic offering from the karaoke pros at Mr Entertainer is something else. With a fancy touchscreen, two wireless microphones and built-in speaker, you have everything you need to put on one heck of a karaoke night with zero effort.

Although it’s relatively compact – measuring 35cm x 26cm x 32cm – it’s quite heavy (this would be thanks to its wooden cabinet exterior to help with acoustics, FYI), and we were initially concerned set-up would be complicated with a piece of kit this high-spec. In reality, it was as straightforward as putting batteries in the mics, connecting the machine to our wifi and familiarising ourselves with the touch-screen. The Digibox also comes with a power adaptor to charge the unit, but once fully charged, battery life runs for about two hours.

There are a whopping 80 kid-friendly songs pre-loaded, so our little testers were able to try these out straight away, however this karaoke machine really feels more suited to adults – or at least requires adult supervision as it’s far from a toy. Plus, you don’t want to take any chances with a price tag like this.

We loved searching through the pre-installed apps like Spotify and YouTube and were genuinely impressed with the sound quality. If you’re really into your karaoke, and your budget allows, this is such a fantastic buy.

Best: For Disney fans

Rating: 8.5/10

Calling all Encanto fans; this is what you’ve been waiting for. We get it, sometimes singing along to We Don’t Talk About Bruno on the TV just doesn’t cut it –  which is where this colourful karaoke machine steps in. To get started you need to download the free EZ Link Setup app from Apple Store or Google Play, then link with the karaoke machine using Bluetooth. Once that’s done, press the large button on the unit and connect to the original Encanto playlist on your choice of streaming service (we opted for YouTube).

It really takes no time to set up, but younger kids may find it a little tricky accessing the playlists at first. Our six-year-old tester took a while to get their head around what buttons to press on the machine and our linked iPhone, but after a while they found it easy enough to operate independently.

There’s only one mic, which did lead to a few arguments between our little testers over who got to go first, but there are two microphone sockets so there’s always the option of buying an additional mic if you like. We loved how lightweight it was, and our testers easily carried it around the house to entertain us with their performances. They also had great fun recording their singalongs on the machine, then playing them back to us. And if your children ever tire of the Disney-fest (ours didn’t), you can also use the USB port to stream your own songs instead.

Best: For toddlers

Rating: 8/10

If you’ve got a three-nager at home, chances are you’re aware of the pre-school phenomenon that is Cocomelon. Our three-year-old tester was off-the-scale excited to get their hands on this Cocomelon karaoke microphone. As the name suggests, it’s a microphone rather than a full karaoke unit, but simplicity is key when it comes to young children and our little tester loved being able to operate this all on their own.

There’s one button to press and hold to make the microphone work, and another button to press to start the pre-loaded song. Ours was The Wheels On The Bus – a classic – although others do include either Twinkle Twinkle or the ABC song. You’d think that maybe the appeal of one song would wear off, but as this is toddlers and pre-schoolers we’re talking about, repetition is king and our three-year-old show no signs of getting fed up with this on loop. The fact the top of the microphone lights up and flashes to the music was an added bonus.

It’s lightweight and a good size for little hands to grab hold of. Yes, it’s very simple, but it’s barely left our pre-schooler’s hands since it arrived so more than deserves its place in the round-up.